2024 Insights - 2024-09-20

VAT Regisration Process And Requirements

Rika Lintvelt, Senior Specialized Tax Administrator at PKF Port Elizabeth

Previously the VAT registration process entailed submitting VAT registration applications at the nearest SARS branch by appointment.

Due to an increase in VAT fraud, SARS changed the VAT registration process by introducing the electronic submissions of VAT applications. It appears that SARS now uses sophisticated risk engines to identify potentially fraudulent VAT registrations filed online.

2024 Insights - 2024-09-20

TAX Refund Scam Awareness

Delecia Venter, Senior Tax Manager at PKF Port Elizabeth

SARS refunds scams are increasingly common during filing seasons. Scammers have become more sophisticated with time, which makes it difficult to detect the scams as it closely mimics legitimate correspondence from SARS.

2024 Insights - 2024-09-20

SARS Scrutiny: Provisional Tax Estimates

Delecia Venter, Senior Tax Manager at PKF Port Elizabeth

Provisional tax is a mechanism which essentially helps taxpayers to manage their income tax liabilities by having to avoid making one large payment on assessment. It is also a mechanism for SARS to collect taxes upfront helping SARS manage its tax collection mandate and cashflow.

2024 Insights - 2024-09-10

The time is right for another amnesty

Paul Gering, Partner at PKF Durban

In 2003, South Africans were given a lifeline—a chance to come clean and regularise any offshore funds they had kept under the radar.

This amnesty was more than just a bureaucratic exercise; it was a moment for individuals and businesses to align with the law, disclose their foreign assets, and contribute to a shared vision of a prosperous South Africa. But, as time has shown, not everyone took that lifeline. Despite the government’s efforts, a significant amount of money remained unreported, hidden and out of reach.

2023 Insights - 2023-04-21

Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service v Medtronic International Trading S.A.R.L [2023] ZASCA 20 (“Medtronic case”)

On 18 June 2017, Medtronic International Trading (“the Taxpayer”) concluded a Voluntary Disclosure Programme (“VDP”) with the South African Revenue Services (“SARS”) as the result of fraudulent transactions of a former employee. The capital amount of the VDP amounted to R 311, 602, 431.49 and the total interest thereon amounted to R201, 185, 012.59. After the conclusion of the VDP agreement, the Taxpayer requested a remission of interest levied on the late payment of Value Added Tax (“VAT”).